Russia is demanding a total arms embargo on Georgia. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, made the announcement while meeting his counterpart from Nicaragua, Samuel Santos Lopez, in Moscow.
“We will be demanding that other states don't supply Georgia’s current regime with offensive weapons. We all saw how they use such weapons. That’s the main factor for us when we’re talking about other countries’ positions on recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” Sergey Lavrov said. Nicaragua is the only country apart from Russia to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. “We sided with Russia on the problem of support for the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It was important for putting an end to massive killings and for permitting the nations to be independent and free,” Lopez said. Samuel Santos Lopez is certain that Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia was the only way to stop the violence in the republics. “We [Nicaragua] were on your side as to the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” he said. Tensions between Georgian and its breakaway republics resulted in a military conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia that started on August 8, 2008. At the end of August, Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and signed friendship treaties with the two republics.